the roses of may

Hi all! Sorry this is a little late but it is my first monthly wrap-up post, yay! I started this blog just over a month ago and I’m pretty satisfied with how it’s progressed so far, although there’s still quite a ways for me to go. Let’s get started with this!

Books I read:

The Goddess Revolution by Mel Wells. 3/5 stars, review.
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang. 5/5 stars, review to come.
The Roses of May by Dot Hutchinson. 5/5 stars, review.
Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. 3/5 stars, goodreads review.
Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker. 5/5 stars, review to come.

Average rating: 4.2 stars.
Books read: 5.
Comments: It was a good month for good books! I rarely give out 5 stars so I was pretty #blessed in May for good reading. Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance and Emma in the Night aren’t going to be published for a bit, so I’ve scheduled my reviews for a week before their release dates! Follow and/or check back in to see what I have to say about them–hint, it’s almost entirely good things. 🙂

Misc. Posts:

Goodreads Shelves — How do you use them?
down the TBR hole [tag]
Mini Book Haul

Reading Goal Progress:

25/35 books read in 2017.

My reading goal is almost always 50 books for the year and I’ve never hit it… so I decided to be a little generous with myself this year. I think I read 33 books in 2016, so I decided to shoot for 35. Looks like unless something goes terribly wrong, I’ll hit it! Let’s say 50 is my stretch goal. 🙂

Currently 11 books ahead of schedule for 35, and just a little ahead for 50! Things that have helped have included: using my commute to read eBooks on my kindle and having a consistent work schedule that allows for me to read more after work and on weekends! I’m hoping to pick up my pace a little more, but I’m still happy with how I’ve been doing.

June TBR: A tentative list, but here we go!

Policing the Black Man by Angela J. Davis (currently reading)
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (currently reading)
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Aaaand, that’s a wrap(up)! How was May for all y’all? My favorite read of the month was probably Emma in the Night. What was yours?? And what are you looking forward to in June?

You can also follow me on Twitter and Goodreads.

**Note: This book was received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Roses of May by Dot Hutchison
To be published by Thomas & Mercer on May 23, 2017
Advanced Reader’s Copy E-book Edition, 302 pages, ISBN-13: 978-1-503-93950-9

Right off the bat I’m going to give my trigger warnings for this book, although it isn’t necessarily a comprehensive list. I will not be discussing these triggers in my review. Content warning for The Roses of May for: eating disorders, stalking, and sexual assault.

I was STOKED when I saw this on NetGalley. I had just read The Butterfly Garden a month or two beforehand and couldn’t believe my luck in stumbling across an ARC of the sequel. I gave The Butterfly Garden five stars and was really looking forward to what Dot Hutchison was up to next.

Let me just start off by saying that even though I hyped this book up in my mind, it completely lived up to it. I didn’t even read the plot summary because I was so sure that Dot would pull out another wonderful work. It was kind of nice to go in cold and without much in the way of expectations as far as plot goes, but I will briefly cover the story.

The Roses of May is definitely a sequel to The Butterfly Garden. I think I’ve seen a few folks say it could work as a standalone piece, but I really disagree. I mean, it’s certainly possible to read it without any context, but I just don’t think it’ll hold up as well. A lot of the characters carry over and their stories are so closely tied that I don’t think it would do the story justice not to have that background.

The Roses of May focuses on a young woman named Priya whose story is largely unrelated to The Butterfly Garden, save for the fact that the same group of FBI agents had worked a case close to her. Dot Hutchison uses this connection to weave Priya’s story in with that of the Butterflies’. This book follows Priya’s life five years after the murder of her older sister. Naturally, the killer returns and the agents are on the case. It sounds a little cheesy, but it’s really well done in my opinion.

Dot Hutchison’s writing is fantastic, per usual. I remembered being struck by her writing in The Butterfly Garden and was glad to experience it again so soon! The story was immersive, the characters were wonderful, and it was almost impossible for me to put down. It was also wonderful to read a book with women of color as the main characters! There are also two notable lgbt women, which I was super excited about! There are so many complex women in Dot Hutchison’s books, I love it. It was also great to see a really nice mom-daughter relationship, which I feel like we don’t see enough of.

Overall, The Roses of May was a fantastic read that I would highly recommend to anyone interested, but would probably be best for lovers of thriller and crime. I can see why it wouldn’t work for some people, but I loved it!

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

You can also follow me on Twitter and Goodreads.

Tag: the roses of may

May Wrap-up